West Castle Valley

In general the skiing was better than expected over the past two days. Winds were relatively mild (moderate at times), there was trace new snow and the temperatures were generally below freezing but mild. There was good skiing out there as the wind hasn’t blown particularly hard (averaging moderate, gusting strong) since our last storm (around Boxing Day). Today may change that… We were surprised to see how much soft snow was preserved near ridge tops, though soft snow is limited to lee or protected terrain. Strips of soft snow generally feel unconsolidated on top of the crust (formed during Boxing Day storm). It skis well but at times makes for challenging, slippery skinning. With good visibility we saw 2 naturals, zoomed in photos included.